The Plight of the Castaways
by Fractured Artifact No. 248
Summary: Death is after Zack, literally. When one of his near-death experiences hurts Cody, he jumps ship to save his friends. Naturally, Cody is in hot pursuit. They find themselves on an island as Mysterious and Wondrous as what comes after Death.
1. Death Comes to Dinner

The United Confederation of People With Too Much Time On Their Hands

Present:

**The Plight of The Castaways**

_an Adventure with Science-Fiction Overtones_

_and Partial Orangutan Involvement_

We present for your perusal, the account of what transpired during an ocean voyage of the S.S. Tipton, a luxury cruise liner. The principal characters in the epic are students attending the Seven Seas High School. The events described here occur directly after Season 3: Episode 6: "Bon Voyage".

There are several facts important to keep in mind: 1) two of the students, Bailey and Cody, are broken up. 2)two other students, Zack and Maya are not going out, much to Zack's chagrin. 3) It is currently August of 2010. 4) The ship was recently docked in Egypt, but is currently making its way through the Atlantic to a port in Florida. 5) Some things aren't any less real just because they can't be seen or aren't believed in. 6) Actions always have consequences, they don't necessarily come after the action, though. 7) There will be no twincest! Giving your brother a hand is one thing, but some of you are swimming into chilling waters.

We are legally obligated to inform you We have no creative rights to anything we are writing about.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Death Comes to Dinner<strong>

"_Seeing is not believing. Seeing is when belief stops because it isn't needed anymore."_

* * *

><p>Zack Martin was skull-shatteringly bored. The counter he was now leaning on was more entertained than he was. He was taking his shift at the Juice Bar on the Sky Deck of the S.S. Tipton. This prospect was uninteresting to begin with, but today was special. It was the most tortuously hot day the ship had ever encountered, and it had arrived on the same day that wind had gone on vacation.<p>

Earlier this week Zack's twin, Cody, had explained that they were sailing through a unique area of the Atlantic Ocean called something and it had unique pressure systems and stuff so the weather was hot, stale, and uncomfortable. Cody had found the fix of asking Mr. Moseby, the ship manager, to assign him to sorting the matzo balls in the ship's fridge unit.

Everyone else on the ship had found the fix of staying in their air-conditioned cabins. The up-shot being that the Sky Deck was empty and Zack had nothing to do in the burning Sun. And he had to do it for another four hours.

"Hey Zack!" someone cried. Zack looked across the deck to see his twin coming toward him carrying a bowl.

"Cody, what are you doing here? And can you stay?" Zack asked, a begging tone just barely present.

"I finished sorting the matzo balls early. It was easy I just had to use the Bromley Extended Pattern for..."

"Don't care. Whazzat?" Zack asked, indicating the bowl.

"I brought you up one of the extra matzo balls." Cody said handing him kosher goodie. Zack gave it a stab with the fork and brought it up for a bite. He liked it but deemed it needed heating up to be truly savory. He put it in the microwave under the counter for a minute-thirty, not realizing he was also microwaving the fork.

"So, what's going on?" Zack asked as he resurfaced.

"Woody and I are working on a model of the Nile delta for school." Cody replied in an uninterested tone. Zack had noticed a lack of zeal in his brother since his break-up with Bailey. He remembered in third grade that Cody had once fainted from excitement while making a topographical map of the Chattahoochie river. Love could do terrible things to a person.

"I guess Woody isn't much of a help." Zack ventured.

"Actually he said he could get a lot of the supplies we need. I was worried about where we were going to get dirt in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."

"That explains why I saw him stealing potted plants from the Salon." Zack chuckled. Cody let this sink in for a second and then ran off at top speed to his cabin. Zack was left alone again, wishing he had brought up Maya instead. Oh, Maya, Maya, Maya...

He was jarred out of his love-struck revelry when he noticed someone sitting at the bar. He was sure there was no one there a moment ago.

"Oh!...Sorry, what can I get you?" He asked.

YOU CAN SEE ME? The voice was unpleasant. The tone was neither rude nor abrasive, it wasn't even very loud, but had the same effect as hearing thin ice cracking underfoot. Moreover, Zack didn't think he heard, just simply knew what was being said. It was like the difference between seeing a fire and being burned.

"Um, yes?" He replied, very sure by now that there was something in that matzo ball.

THIS IS MOST IRREGULAR. WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?

"Huh?"

TO DRINK. The figure indicated the menu on the wall.

"Oh, right. Well, the Very Merry Berry Bonanza is always good." Zack suggested.

I'LL HAVE THE VERY MERRY BERRY BONANZA.

Zack got to work blending the raspberries and grapes, very determinedly looking at his work. He poured out the substance into a very festive glass, adding the festive mini-umbrella, putting on his festive smile and handing it to the depressing figure.

THANK YOU.

Zack stood back and gave the figure a perusal. It was wearing a long black cloak, but it looked less like clothing and more like a veil someone had put up to obscure something unpleasant. The fabric was whipping slightly in breeze that wasn't there, almost as if the air it was occupying didn't want to be touching it and was trying to shake it off.

The figure's physique was skin and bone. On closer inspection you noticed the lack of any skin, and the lack of anything that wasn't bone. This revelation made the fact that it was drinking a smoothie very discordant with everything Zack knew about health and diet.

And the crowning disturbance in the horror-fest was the weapon it was carrying. It looked distinctly like a scythe, but it was more than a scythe; the same as how a space shuttle vaguely resembles a paper air-plane. It was clearly made for a task mere mortals should know nothing about. Against all common sense, Zack tried to strike up a conversation.

"So...are you enjoying the cruise?"

I ONLY JUST ARRIVED.

"But, we're in the middle of the Ocean..."

I DIDN'T HAVE ANY TROUBLE.

"So...you're taking a vacation."

I'M HERE ON BUSINESS.

"Doing what?"

I'M SUPPOSED TO PICK SOMEONE UP, THEN MAKE A DELIVERY.

"Oh, you're the Ship's helicopter pilot."

NO, I RIDE A HORSE. MACHINES CAN'T GO WERE I'M GOING.

"...Who are you?"

I AM THE GRAVE OF HOPE. THE RUIN OF NATIONS. THE SWALLOWER OF OCEANS. THE ULTIMATE REALITY. THE DEVOURER OF...

Somewhere after THE RUIN OF NATIONS Zack had taken off at a dead sprint. He managed to clear the cabana when the microwave finally lost it's heated battle with the fork and exploded, sending shrapnel shooting all over the bar.

Zack looked over to the Juice Bar from his hiding place behind the towel rack. The region where his lower half had been moments before was now a smattering of charred twisted metal. If he hadn't run away not only would he have been dead, he would have lost the will to live.

AND THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER BUY CHEAP APPLIANCES. Death said as it strolled off the deck, half-finished smoothie still in hand.

As Zack was still trying to get his mind around what happened, Mr. Moseby ran onto the sky deck.

"Zack!" Mr. Moseby shouted in wild indignation, "What did you do?"

Zack ran up to Mr. Moseby and grabbed him in a desperate embrace.

"I almost died!" Zack choked out.

"What do you mean '_almost_'?" asked Mr. Moseby, and Zack felt the hug become uncomfortably tight.


	2. Death Through The Ages

**Chapter 2: Death Through The Ages**

"_Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."_

* * *

><p>"King Neferkare Pepi II was the last known pharaoh to rule Egypt during the period of the Old Kingdom." Ms. Tutweiller lectured.<p>

Ms. Tutweiller was lecturing to her history class of Seven Seas school. She was a good teacher but the subject of dead ancient rulers of a desert culture could only be described as 'dry'. Her class was engaging themselves in other academic pursuits.

"After the death of Pepi II, the Old Kingdom went into an inexplicable decline. The scant records from the time indicate that some of the 'tools' or 'technology' they had was no longer available for some reason."

Woody was making a very accurate drawing of his left hand. Maya was pondering who she should vote for on American Idol and how many votes she could afford to send in. London was using her new phone to text a best friend whose name she couldn't remember. She was very proud of her new phone. Her Daddy's company had managed to make the first phone powered by a miniature nuclear reactor, and she could see no way that that plan could fail.

"The tomb of Pepi II was recently discovered in a previously concealed chamber under the Great Pyramids of Giza. His Sarcophagus and other ornaments were on display at the Cairo museum until recently."

Cody was dividing his time between paying attention to Ms. Tutweiller and paying attention to Ms. Pickett. If you love someone long enough the back of their head develops a hypnotic quality.

"The Egyptian Government made a deal with the Museum of Ancient History in Idaho to put Pharaoh Pepi II on permanent display in their facility. Which everyone thought was very odd..."

Cody also spared his twin a glance. It had been less than a day since they had to pry Mr. Moseby off of Zack's throat for the microwave-incident. Mr. Moseby had apologized and given Zack a few days off after it was discovered that the microwave was defective and generally shouldn't function like a hand grenade.

"The entire Pepi II exhibit is in the hold of the S.S. Tipton right now to be transported to the United States."

Still, Zack was in a constantly aggravated state. He had the pale skin tone of someone who didn't know what sunlight was. The intensity of his stare suggested a hardcore caffeine addiction. He had the overall look of someone who expected death was lurking around every corner.

This was preposterous, of course. Death was leaning against the wall behind him.

HELLO AGAIN.

"What are you doing here?" Zack cried.

"Zack, who are you talking to?" Ms. Tutweiller while subtly texting Mr. Moseby that Zack had finally lost it. On the other side of the ship the security guards mobilized.

WELL, SOME IDIOT...

At the word IDIOT Zack dove as far away from London as was possible without breaking through a wall. He then broke through the wall.

At the same time London noticed her phone was getting very hot; burning, in fact. She gave a shrill cry of pain and tossed the cell-phone into the air. It landed with crack on Zack's now empty desk. It shot out a column of sinister green fire and the already panicked class ran for the door.

* * *

><p>In the Tipton San Diego Research and Development Office one of the lab workers alerted his bosses that the remote tracker for the new cell-phone they were testing had reported a fatal system error. For the next hour everyone would be scrambling to find the waiver the test subject had signed.<p> 


	3. Put Death on Hold

**Chapter 3: Put Death On Hold**

"_Putting off something unpleasant is what life is all about."_

* * *

><p>Cody crept stealthily through the cargo hold of the S.S. Tipton. So stealthily was he, that Bailey didn't notice him and they crashed right into each other.<p>

"What are you doing here?" They both asked.

"Well, I'm not trying to get a look at Pepi II sarcophagus." They both answered. They were both silent for a moment.

"Breaking into a privately owned exhibit is very illegal." said Cody.

"It would be wrong to risk damaging ancient treasure." conceded Bailey.

"We could start a PR war between Egypt and the US."

"Mr. Moseby would be in serious trouble."

"We'd be fined more money than we'd ever earn."

"It's an unnecessary risk."

"I won't tell if you won't."

"I brought a crowbar."

"I brought a hammer."

"Let's find that crate."

After venturing deep into the bowels of the ship, they came across a crate marked with 'DO NOT OPEN', 'SARCOPHAGUS', 'YOU WILL BE IN TROUBLE', and 'THIS IS VERY SERIOUS'.

After several minutes of prying and twisting nails and blatantly ignoring bold, red, letters they got the lid off of the crate, revealing the container of the long dead king.

They both gazed reverently at the sarcophagus. There was a prospect of a gold leafed, finely detailed casket that eased the sting of death, leaving only the wonder and mystery of mortality. Cody was awed and overwhelmed by the beauty of the craftsmanship coupled with the mystery of this long absent piece of history sitting before them. Bailey was similarly stunned.

In the midst of the awe they were trying to express they had both, unconsciously, held the others hand, and neither had noticed a thing.

They were both jolted out of the revere by the obnoxiously conspicuous footsteps of someone who was supposed to be there. The implications of the crate's bold, red letters came crashing down on them, and they ran out of the hold like the Devil was at their heals.

A little later, both children were gone, the footsteper had gone elsewhere, and no one was there to notice a four thousand year old sarcophagus suddenly sit up in its crate and wonder where it was.

* * *

><p>Cody was feeling elated on his way back to his cabin. He had held hands with Bailey. He had seen an incomprehensibly valuable piece of ancient history. He had escaped the wrath of the Red Letters. This was a good day.<p>

He gave pause at his cabin door and looked behind him to the door of his twin's cabin. Marcus wasn't here to keep an eye on Zack any more, and as important and exciting as a scale model of the Nile Delta is, some one really should check on him.

"Zack!" Cody called as he knocked on the door. After getting no answer, he let himself in. He was greeted by the site of a ominous cloaked figure sitting on Zack's bed.

"Who are you?" Cody asked, alarmed. This figure looked familiar. He thought he saw someone like him in the classroom before the cell-nuke exploded, but that couldn't be...

YOU CAN SEE ME?

"Yeah!" said Cody, who was now looking around the room for his twin.

THIS IS MOST AWKWARD.

"Where's Zack?" Cody yelled while looking through Zack's poorly organized closet.

HE LOCKED HIMSELF IN THE BATHROOM...

"Zack!" Cody banged on the locked bathroom door.

SEALED HIMSELF IN, REALLY.

Cody managed to break off the door handle using a pickax Zack kept by his desk. He would really have to ask about that later. The door opened with a sucking sound. Once on the inside, he saw Zack passed out on the floor. He had a few water bottles and some food in the shower. He was holding a roll of duct tape. If Cody wasn't preoccupied with pulling Zack outside he would have noticed his twin had used it to seal up the sides of the door, the cracks of the port-hole, the air vent, and all the drains. He had used red-neck maneuvers to hermetically seal himself inside a bathroom and the air had been getting thin, causing him to pass out.

"What did you do?" Cody screamed at Death as he dragged his twin's still breathing body out of the cabin.

I JUST WORK HERE. Death said to the retreating brothers.


	4. A Death Worse than Fate

**Chapter 4: A Death Worse Than Fate**

"_If you can't die for a cause, at least live humbly for one."_

* * *

><p><em>ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk<em>

It was really inconvenient having to hop everywhere. On top of that, this place is a maze. Would it kill someone to put up a map?

_ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk_

There is a stair case down the hall that leads to the open air. Maybe there will be a better view of the land from there.

_ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk._

As the Class Reunion of 1974 watched an ornate sarcophagus hop down the hall it occurred to the graduates that they should stop drinking.

* * *

><p>Zack was leaning back against the railing of the deck while Maya gently patted his face with a wet cloth.<p>

"You're lucky Cody came when he did." Maya scolded, "Why did you vacuum seal yourself into the bathroom? Your humiliation would live forever on the Internet."

In spite of her remonstration, Zack found her ministrations calming. For her part, Maya was looking into his eyes with more interest than was typical for casual friends. The sunset had a beautifying effect on his face that wasn't even fair.

"I was scared." Zack admitted eventually.

Maya stopped in mid-wipe. "Of what?" she asked.

"I thought I could keep Death out." The way he said it made her capitalize the D in death.

"Zack, Death is not an intelligent force." She said, affecting the tone one uses with someone who claims to have been abducted by aliens(the ridiculously preposterous aliens not the plausible aliens). "Death is not coming after you. As long as you don't do anything stupid (like hermetically sealing yourself in a water closet) nothing bad will..."

"Look out!" someone screamed. Zack and Maya looked up and registered an overburdened luggage lorry barreling toward them. Before they could do anything Cody dived toward them and pushed them out of harms way. As Zack crashed to the floor he saw the lorry connect with his twin and smash him into the railing. The railing snapped sending lorry and Cody over the edge.

Zack felt a full body numbness, like being burned by cold flames as he jumped up and ran to the railing. To his relief, when he looked over the side he saw that the luggage lorry had fallen into the ocean but Cody had caught onto an awning on his way down. Some of the crew hurriedly pulled him up and he was whisked away to the Med-Bay.

This all caused Maya to temporarily loose her cool, yelling: "Oh, my God. Death is after you!"

* * *

><p>Cody lay in a shallow slumber on the Med-Bay cot. The medic hadn't found anything seriously wrong, but figured a light rest was well deserved. Since evening was fast approaching, he figured he could just sleep the night here. He wasn't eager to return to his cabin, where at Woody was stashing 20 assorted stolen potted plants.<p>

He heard the door open, but didn't bother to see who it was. What did wake him up was when the person ran a finger through his hair.

He opened his eyes to see Bailey standing above him. Seeing Bailey was, all in all, better than seeing the cloaked specter he was expecting.

"You were very brave," She admitted, "but you had more courage than sense. It was so unlike you."

Cody chuckled a little. "I'm changing." he said. "Soon I'll start growing hair in strange places and sounding like Berry White."

"That is the most disturbing thing I have ever imagined." She was laughing now, her concern giving way to relief. "A little extra muscle wouldn't kill you though."

"It might. My immune system wouldn't know what it was and attack it."

This silliness continued for some time. Each others' presence alleviating the fear that death could bring.

"I'm glad you're safe." Bailey finally said. Her eyes narrowed, as if she had finally decided on something, and she leaned toward him.

Naturally, the door burst open. "Hi Cody!" London yelled, barging in with a fruit basket.

* * *

><p>"Hello London." Cody said, looking like Christmas had been canceled. He cursed his luck on the one day out of the year London chose to be considerate.<p>

In Zack's cabin, he was frantically throwing whatever he could get his hands on into various duffel bags. He wasn't sure what he'd need, so he decided on the take-everything approach. He packed extra underwear, muscle tees, water, pop-tarts, English homework, the pick-ax was always useful, marshmallows, thimbles, blank DVDs, sleeping bag, sarcophagus...sarcophagus?

He was momentarily distracted by a sarcophagus hoping down his hallway. This distraction sent a bolt of reason through his panicked mind, and he decided he could live without bringing the English homework.

All he knew for sure was what happened today wasn't going to happen again. If Death wanted him that was all well and good but it wasn't getting his twin. If we was gone then Cody wouldn't be in any more danger.

* * *

><p><em>ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk<em>

Well, this was a kick in the casket. Getting lost on a ship was bad to start with, but having to be chased by an air-head while you hop around powerlessly was gruesome.

"Shiny!" London shouted again.

The sarcophagus hopped faster, hoping some of it's gold leaf would fall off and distract her.

* * *

><p>That evening, Cody wandered aimlessly down the starboard deck. He had a lot to get his head around tonight. His concern for his twin's streak of bad luck was vying for his attention over his confusion about Bailey.<p>

Did she want to stay broken up? Get back together? Torture him with mixed signals tailored to keep him up at night? Maya?

Maya ran towards him from the promenade. Once she reached him she grabbed him by the shoulders to steady herself. When she began talking she was not her level-headed self.

"Zack's (_gasp_) gone! I was (_gasp_) just in his room and it all his stuff was thrown everywhere (_gasp_) not like it usually is, but in a bad way (_gasp_) and I can't find him (_gasp_) and he said death was after him and I said he was crazy, but it's starting to look like he's right (_throws up a little_) and I'm worried something bad (_gasp_) worse is going to happen..."

"Inhale!" Cody yelled. While Maya focused on breathing Cody tried to make sense of things. "Look, today was a bad day but Zack's going to be fine. There have just been a few freak accidents. Zack's going to be careful from now on and he's not...going...to...be..."

He trailed off as he noticed a conspicuously Zack-shaped person lowering one of the life-boats down to the water.

"STUPID!"

* * *

><p><em>ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk<em>

"Shiny!"

"London stop chasing that...sarcophagus! Sarcophagus...stop...running away!"Bailey yelled as she chased them down the corridor. As she heard herself say this she hoped deep in her heart that she was dreaming.

* * *

><p>"Shouldn't we get help?" Maya asked tentatively from he perch in the swiftly dropping life-boat.<p>

"If we tell anyone else Zack will be in trouble." Cody replied as he started undoing the ropes that tethered them to the ship. "And I want to catch up to him first so I can kick the stupid out of him."

"Good a reason as any." Maya conceded as she started paddling to where they saw Zack's life boat headed.

* * *

><p><em>Ca-thunk ca-thunk ca- splash<em>!

"ShineeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE-"_splash_!

When Bailey reached the deck she saw that the railing was still missing and in the failing light of evening this had gone unnoticed by the sarcophagus (which don't normally see) and London (who doesn't normally notice). The current was taking the partially buoyant relic out to sea along with London who was staying afloat by virtue of the mostly air-filled skull.

Bailey ran to the nearest life-boat. It was slightly farther away than she expected since two of the life-boats appeared to be missing. She would lower it down, paddle out, get London and the priceless treasure, paddle back to the ship, get back on, and there would be no problem.

About an hour later she had learned that a cruise ship with engines is very much faster than a dinghy with two paddles.


	5. Death on The Beach

**Chapter 5: Death On The Beach**

"_Why are there so many lonely people? Can't they all just get together?"_

* * *

><p>Zack lay supine on the beach. The early morning light gave him a pleasant warmth and the waves would come up and tickle his heels occasionally.<p>

THIS IS PLEASANT said the figure lying beside him.

"Very peaceful." Zack agreed. He had drifted all through the night and when he woke up his dinghy was beached on a Cay near a larger island with a dense forest. He could hear bird cries coming from the island making a soothing rhythm with the waves on the sand. "How long do I have?"

JUDGING BY THE AMOUNT OF WATER YOU BROUGHT, YOU SHOULD LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO STARVE TO DEATH.

* * *

><p>Bailey awakened to the sound of bird calls and crashing waves. She was cramped into the narrow end of a small dinghy, snoozing next to he was an airhead who was all sharp corners and there was a sarcophagus at her feat hogging all the leg room.<p>

She stumbled unsteadily out of the boat and found herself knee deep in the surf. She was on the sandy banks of an island. There was a wall of jungle on one side of her and an endless ocean on the other. No sign of a cruise ship, civilization, or breakfast.

"Hey, London." she prodded London awake. "We're in deep donkey dung, and we need to figure out how to..." London had lost interest and resumed snoring. Bailey cupped two hands full of sea water and doused her with it.

"Waaaaah!" London gasped jumping out of the boat and onto the beach. The shock wore off and she took stock of her surroundings. "Where are we?" she griped.

"No idea." Bailey admitted

"How do we get home?"

"No clue."

"What do we do?"

I ADVISE YOU CLIMB A PALM TREE.

"Eh?"

_Grrrrrrrrrrrr_

"Oh, bother-"

* * *

><p>"Stroke, Stroke, Stroke" Cody chanted.<p>

"This was a bad idea." Maya remonstrated quietly. She was too exhausted to infuse the statement with any disdain.

"I admit, in the excitement I forgot that a cruise ship with engines is very much faster than a dinghy with paddles." Cody moaned.

"If I didn't need you to help me paddle to that island, I'd be eating you for energy right now."

The island in question had been sitting on the horizon for the better part of two hours now. They had quickly lost track of both Zack's dinghy and the S.S. Tipton in the dark of night and floating aimlessly for hours. The ship had been sailing West across the Atlantic so they decided that West was a good direction to go. They found a compass in the dinghy's emergency supplies and a flashlight and began paddling.

They soon discovered that what the ocean lacks in landmarks it makes up for in bitterly cold nights. Fearing for their frost-bitten fingers they abandoned the paddles and huddled together for warmth, neither looking each other in the eye and silently agreeing never to speak of this.

When the first light of dawn lifted the darkness they saw the island on the North horizon and paddled like their lives depended on it. By the time they beached themselves the sun was up and it was hot. They collapsed on the sand and clutched it close in a loving embrace.

"I love you, land." crooned Maya.

"No one understands me like you do." crooned Cody.

"You're amazing, just the way you are."

"Every time we touch I feel the static."

After they had caught their breath, Cody got up and went looking through the boats supplies. He came back and tossed Maya a bottled water and a packet.

"Dehydrated food is the breakfast of champions." said Cody as Maya chugged the water. She examined the ration packet.

"'Dehydrated Matzo Balls', yummy." she lamented.

"It was that or 'Gefilte Fish Jerky'. Let's eat up, find out where we are, and get back to civilization before I plotz." said Cody.

Half an hour and three matzo balls later they were headed into the jungle. The side of the island they had landed on was next to a peak that they hoped they could get the lay of the land from. Each of them packed up a knapsack full of supplies that were on the dinghy and set off.

Half way up the precipice, they were both ready for Death to take them. The jungle hadn't had any human visitors it could remember, and hadn't tidied itself up in ages. There wasn't an empty patch of walking space anywhere. Thorny brush plants sprung up every few feet. Trees leaned at odd angles from the steep ground. Whatever empty space was left over was occupied by low hanging vines. Navigation through the Great Wall of Botany was too much to ask of anyone, and the two had to do it up-hill.

"This was a bad idea." Maya complained.

"We need to get some idea where we are." Cody gasped he had been sweating to the point where if you dunked him under water he would be dryer than he was now.

"We switched on the beacon that came with the dinghy, isn't that enough?" said Maya as she pulled herself up a rock outcropping.

"You can't be too careful." said Cody, grabbing the tree trunks he was passing to steady himself. "That beacon only works if someone passes within 120 kilometers."

"How far is that?" Maya asked while trying to force her way through low hanging vines.

"Short." grunted Cody.

"Perfect." she tore through the last of the vegetation. They were at the very top of the mountain, but it wasn't what they expected.

The top of the mountain was capped by a large metal disk about 5 meters across, it had a random pillars sticking out here and there, all of them taller than the two teens. It was as if someone had decided Stonehenge needed a modern rebuilding and stuck it in the most inaccessible place on Earth.

Cody was sidetracked by the surprising construct and stopped to inspect it more closely. The disc foundation was inscribed with a meridians and unfamiliar symbols. The pillars were inscribed with similar confusing hieroglyphs.

Cody finally made it to the edge of the structure and looked down at the rest of the island. This was indeed the highest peak of the island, but it wasn't very high. The peak was as high as a 12 story building, tops. He could see the island circled around a bay and the other side of the island had a large mount on it, shorter but larger than the one they were on now. The mount sloped into the ocean and lead to a few Cays that doted the shallower waters to the South of the island. One one of the Cays was...

"Zack!" Maya cried out. She had pulled her binoculars out of her pack and had been looking at the beaches for signs of life. She spotted Zack's dinghy on one of the taller Cays.

"Bailey!" cried Cody.

"Eh?"

Cody had pulled out his binoculars and had them trained on the shore of the bay. There was another dinghy beached on the sand. Bailey and London could be seen farther down the coast. They were running from some kind of animal and...was that a sarcophagus?

"Oh, nutcrackers. What do we do?" Maya asks, binocular trained at the two girls, now desperately trying to climb up palm trees.

"We save them! I'll go down and buy some time, you use the dinghy to go get Zack so he can help." Cody resolved. He packed away his binoculars and tore down the hillside to the damsels in distress.

Maya took off down the other side of the mountain towards the dinghy. Cody could only distract the hungry predator for so long, and that included the time it would take to eat him.

* * *

><p>"Do something, Bailey!" London yelled from her palm tree.<p>

"I am: I'm panicking!" Bailey yelled back from her palm tree. They would get stranded on an island with a hungry wolf on it. She wasn't strictly sure it was a wolf, it looked bigger than any wolf she had ever seen and had red hair. It looked like a cross between a fox, a wolf, a Great Dane, and her nightmares.

Her and London had barely made it up to the safety of their respective palm trees. The sarcophagus was doing it's best to tackle the wolf, but it wasn't putting up much of a fight. As the wolf circled the two palms the sarcophagus hopped feebly after it. You had to appreciate the effort though.

"I have a plan!" London cried. "If we feed it, it will not be hungry, and it will leave us alone."

"Feed it what?" Bailey asked exasperated.

London gave Bailey a pleading look.

"Classy, London." Bailey said flatly. "Really classy."

"I can give you money! Gold! Houses!" London offered.

"Coffin." Bailey offered.

"I can get you one in white marble and Italian leather." said London.

Before Bailey could tell London exactly where she could put her white marble coffin they were distracted by a yell coming from the forest.

Cody broke through the underbrush swinging a large branch over his head and charged at the wolf.

As Bailey tried to move past the shock of seeing him on the same deserted island charging a wolf it occurred to her that he was trying to save her. She was moved to the very marrow of her bones and sure that she had never seen anything so brave.

London moved passed the shock to relief that the wolf now had someone to eat.

* * *

><p>Zack sat up, groggy. He was sure he had heard someone calling out his name. After he listened harder, he heard his name being called interspersed with various swear words and insults.<p>

He stood up now and looked out at the ocean to sea a dinghy coming towards him. The dinghy was being rowed by an irate woman alternating her attention between paddling the boat and calling him names.

Zack was 100% sure he was seeing things and didn't care. He pushed his own dinghy into the sea and began paddling out to her. The hallucination looked convincingly like Maya. If he was going to die of starvation and exposure on a God-forsaken island, he was at least going to enjoy the "going-insane" portion of the trip.

Eventually, the two boats pulled along side each other. Zack leaned across to Maya and gathered her up in a hug. Maya pulled back after a while and slugged him.

"What the Hell where you thinking?" She raged as Zack tried to pick himself up off the floor of his dinghy. "You took a life-boat away from help and rowed out to sea! Who does that?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked after he made sure he had all his teeth.

"Cody and I followed you!"

"Cody's here?" he jumped up.

"Yeah, he's just over there, being eaten." she gestured broadly to the island.

"What?"

"Start paddling!" And they both paddled their dinghies toward the bay.


	6. Between Death and a Hard Place

**Chapter 6: Between Death and a Hard Place.**

"_There was no winning. There were only degrees of loosing."_

* * *

><p>"Nice going, numb-nuts." London said sardonically to Cody.<p>

"He did his best." Bailey said, clearly not meaning it.

Cody's attack on the wolf had been less helpful and sad to watch. After getting in a few good hits with the improvised club, the wolf had bitten the branch in half and chased him up his own palm tree. To his credit, the wolf was now fixated on him, giving the girls more running space.

Cody's disappointment at not being able to fight off the predator was exacerbated by the cloaked figure sitting on top of the palm tree he was hiding in.

YOU COULD JUMP, YOU KNOW. THE GIRLS WOULD ESCAPE WHILE YOU'RE BEING EATEN.

"I don't wanna." replied Cody, still nursing the burn left by the humiliation.

IT WON'T HURT.

"How is it possible that being eaten alive by a wolf won't hurt?"

IT WILL BE OVER VERY QUICKLY, AND HE IS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.

"Someone's coming!" Bailey yelled pointing to the two dinghies paddling toward them.

"It's Zack and Maya!" Cody yelled.

"No way! How did we all wind up on the same island?" Bailey asked.

IT'S BEST NOT TO QUESTION THESE THINGS.

Zack transferred into Maya's dinghy and they both paddled hard to the shore, determined to rescue their friends, while still unsure of the nuances of wold husbandry.

The wolf had noticed them coming close to the shore and he prowled into the surf to meet them. Zack lashed out with his paddle and it connected with the wolf's jaw, knocking it back. He kept the wolf at bay as it kept trying to bite the paddle out of his hand. Maya dug around in the emergency supplies for anything that looked like it could repel a hungry animal.

"'Gefilte Fish Jerky'!" she screamed at last.

"Eh?" Zack inquired.

Not bothering to answer she threw a packet of something over onto the beach. The wolf followed the arc, gave the man with the paddle another look, then raced to were it landed. After a few cursory sniffs it started to chow down on the ration packet.

Sensing that this was there chance the three in the tree jumped down and charged to the ocean. Bailey and Cody hopped in the boat while Zack and Maya began paddling out.

The wolf lost interest in the ration packet when it noticed that the other meat-bags were now within biting distance and it made a beeline for Cody's throat.

While Maya and Bailey were beating off the wolf, London had her semi-annual good idea. She figured the wolf would go for the boat with more meat-bags in it, especially the one that had hit it with a branch. Knowing this, she jumped into the empty boat that she came here in and started paddling out. She waited a while for the Sarcophagus to hop in, then continued out to safety.

A short while later they were all headed out of the mouth of the bay. They were making halting progress since the sarcophagus couldn't help London row, and Zack and Cody's dinghy stopped every once in a while so that Cody could hit Zack with the oar for being a...

"...short-sighted, fatalistic, suicidal, recalcitrant moron!" Cody yelled in high dudgeon.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do!" yelled Maya.

"I'm gonna kill him!" yelled Cody.

"After that! The getting back home part!" Maya amended.

"We," Cody yelled, giving Zack a reprieve from the oar, "are going to hold up on that Cay over there," he gestured to one of the outlying Cays at the mouth of the bay, "far away from the fang-monster," pointing back to the prowling wolf on the beach, "switch on our emergency beacons," he picked up the flashing transponder from the hull, "find food and water, and hold up until help gets here." It was as good a plan as any, and no one felt like arguing with him. He looked quite demented.

The flotilla made their way to the smaller cay. Zack was paddling fastest on the hope that he could get away from his manic twin sitting behind him.

* * *

><p>They were all lying side by side on the beach. Maya and Bailey were forming a buffer zone between Zack and Cody. London was lying next to the sarcophagus. They had searched the little Cay they were on and found little in the way of food. In addition to their ration packets they found 3 coconuts, one sand crab, and one berry plant (they were either acaì berries which promoted health, or belladona berries which caused blindness). They had to give up the search as the Sun began to set.<p>

Food wasn't much of an issue but the water was starting to run dry. Dehydrating in the middle of the ocean was becoming a distinct possibility. Cody could imagine the coroner's report when their desiccated cadavers were found: 'Death by Irony'.

"Cody," London said her voice heavy with exhaustion. "Can you make a balloon like the last time we were stranded?"

"Wouldn't work," Cody replied, matching her enthusiasm. "The balloon apparatus worked by riding air currents and we're in the Sargasso Sea."

"So, no wind." Bailey finished for him.

"We can last until help comes." comforted Zack. "We have the supplies on the ship, the stuff I packed, and Pepé."

"Pepé?" Cody asked.

"The old guy in the sarcophagus." Zack answered.

"It's Pepi. Pharaoh Neferkare Pepi II. And I don't care how bad things get, we're not eating him." Bailey said unable to muster the annoyance she wanted.

"Let's just get some sleep. Things will be better in the morning." Maya resolved.

This is very true. No matter how bad things seem the night before, they always seem better in the sobering light of day. Zack ambled off into the sparse vegetation to relieve himself before he turned in.

On his way back, someone was blocking his path. In the dark of night he couldn't truly see who it was, but he knew it was Cody. They stood in silence for a while. Zack wished he could at least see his twins face so he could know whether or not to be running away.

Finally, he decided to break the silence. "Look," he started. "I'm sorry your stranded out here..."

Cody charged him then. Zack suddenly found himself being hugged very tightly. Desperately, in fact. He felt a slight moisture on the shoulder Cody's face was pressed on. Zack hugged him back.

"I was so afraid..." was all Cody could say.

"I'm sorry..._So_ sorry" Zack said as he sniffed back tears.


	7. A Death to Call Your Own

**Chapter 7: A Death to Call Your Own**

"_The most fundamental human need is having someone to wonder where you are when you're not home."_

* * *

><p>Zack woke up from a bad dream about being stranded, helpless in the ocean while being stalked by Death. As he sat up on the beach the events of the last few days came back and he realized it wasn't so much a dream as a waking horror.<p>

He was lying on the beach of the cay with his friends and Pepé. Sometime in the night, Zack, Cody, Maya, and Bailey had snuggled up to each other rather than face the night's chill. Cody had his back pressed against Zack. Bailey had ensconced herself under Cody's arm. Maya had wrapped Zack's arm around her slight frame.

London, true to form, was sleeping on top of Pepé. The only thing that could comfort her cold heart was something insanely valuable. For now, the gold leafed sarcophagus was her best friend.

Zack could have dozed back off in the comfort of the moment if not for the shrouded figure sitting in a beach chair by the tree line. It was leafing through a novel.

DON'T MIND ME. I BROUGHT A BOOK THIS TIME.

"What are you doing here?" Zack shouted jumping up. As he did so everyone went from slumbering to panicking in under a second. They all looked around the beach nervously.

"What are you doing here?" Cody reiterated.

READING.

"Who are you yelling at?" asked a confused Maya.

YOU _CAN'T_ SEE ME?

"Everyone look around for something that might kill us!" ordered Zack. They all stayed quiet and looked around anxiously.

"Puppy!" London shouted suddenly pointing towards a neighboring Cay. The wolf was swimming to them through the shallow waters. Despite it's slow progress, the number of teeth it possessed was no less terrifying.

"To the boats!" cried Maya, and the charge was on. The Twins got into their dinghy, The girls got into theirs, and London and Pepé into the last. By the time the wolf had made it to the shore they were safely in deep water. The animal was left to amble up and down the beach growling to itself.

"How did it find us?" Maya asked as they rowed into the bay.

"It must have been swimming from one cay to the other, like stepping stones, looking for us." Bailey answered.

"So there's nowhere on this island we can be safe? We just have to stay out her in the water?" Maya asked getting a little frantic.

"Oh, Balls to that." Said Zack. "Look, it took the wolf..."

"Can we call him 'Akela'?" interrupted London.

"Eh?"

"Akela." she repeated.

"The wolf pack leader from 'The Jungle Book'?" asked Cody incredulously.

"Yep." she answered.

"You've read 'The Jungle Book'?" Bailey asked with no small shock.

"I'm a huge Rudyard Kipling fan." London replied with a grin.

The others tried to get their heads around this. They failed, and it was back to the task at hand.

"Right," Zack resumed. "Well...Akela...took all night to get from the main island to the cay we were on. That means we have a window of time to search the island safely before he gets back. Two of us should go to that peak..." He pointed to the peak Maya and Cody saw him from yesterday. "...and get the lay of the island. Once they see anything that might look like a wolf resistant shelter, they come down, tell the rest of us and we go into the island to investigate. And we have to do all this before Akela comes swimming home."

"It's a good plan." said Maya, rummaging through her bag. "I can make it even better." She produced a walkie-talkie from her bag. "Each boat comes equipped with one of these." she explained. "We divide into three teams, one for each radio. Team One goes up to the peak and give directions to Team Two on the island while Team Three watches where Akela is going."

"Good, we should get moving." said Cody. "Maya and I were at the peak yesterday, we can find our way up there again."

Zack only had time to spare his twin a short quizzical expression. "Bailey and I have more wilderness know-how. We'll scout the island while you give directions. London, you and Pepé are on Akela watch. Don't let us down Pepé."

_ca-thunk_

They all paddled their separate ways. Zack did his best to suppress the nagging curiosity of what exactly happened on Cody and Maya's dinghy before they all met up.

* * *

><p>Zack and Bailey were hacking through the uncooperative jungle. Maya had radioed down that there was a 'huge domed something' about sixty yards into the jungle going North from the bay. London was giving a blow by blow on Akela's movements. The last report was that he was rolling in something suspect on one of the Cays.<p>

"So," Zack said trying to relieve the monotony of the greenery. "Cody and Maya came here in the same boat to rescue me."

"That was nice of them. Stupid, but nice." Bailey answered, dodging a spider web.

"They spent all night together on a small dinghy." He added.

"...What are you saying?" she asked.

"I just wonder what they did all that time."

"Well...they could have..." They didn't speak for a while. Then, Bailey gave a snort. "Seriously, there's no reason to worry. This is Cody we're talking about!"

"Oh, right, duh." Zack conceded, relieved. They walked on in silence for a little while before Zack piped up again. "Then again.."

"I'm going to put this branch somewhere if you finish that sentence." Bailey threatened.

Zack clammed up after that. It seemed Bailey still carried a sensitive spot where Cody was concerned. After a few more minutes they came up against a sheer drop.

"This must be the giant rock that Maya was talking about." said Zack. It was a huge wall of dull brown, caked with mud and had plants growing on it in the various crags they could find a grip. The occasional tree had grown up against the side.

Bailey stepped up to it and grabbed a hand hold with the aim of climbing up, but the minute her hand made contact she stopped cold. "This isn't a rock." she said.

"What is it?" asked Zack.

"No idea. But this isn't rock, it's metal."

He didn't believe it, so he reached out and touched it. It had a smooth coldness of metal and none of the roughness and grit of stone. He stepped back to get a better look at the edifice. He hadn't noticed before, but the perimeter of the thing was strangely curved. He suspected if you could view the structure from above, it would be a perfect circle, an ellipse at the very least. The irregularities on the surface formed a pattern he hadn't noticed before. If he had known what vaulted arches and buttresses were, he would have been reminded of them. They only things he could say for sure about it was that it wasn't here by chance and definitely made by something.

Bailey had found a tree that was growing in such away that it was pressed up against the edifice. She had used it to climb a good twenty feet up the side of it when she came up to a ledge. After clambering onto it she found it wasn't a ledge so much as a balcony, it went along the side of the structure and disappeared around the curve.

"Hey Romeo," she called from the balcony. "Bring yourself up to yonder window."

After Zack had made his way up the tree to the balcony they walked counter-clockwise around the structure. After a few yards they came upon a door into the structure. It was big enough for three people to stand side by side and walk through without crouching. They slowly peaked around the corner, wary of whatever had made it's home here before they came knocking. From the door they could see the entire interior of the structure.

The whole thing was hollow like a stadium. There were beams of light coming down through regularly placed round holes in the ceiling. The light was good enough to see what was on the floor. There was a stair case directly in front of them leading about ten feet down to the main floor. The main floor was covered in...desks was the only word Zack could think of. There were dozens of raised platforms, all spiraling around the middle of the room. In the dead center of the room was a large dais, completely empty. The largest beam of light was focused on it.

Zack and Bailey walked into the stadium tentatively. They were poised to run in case anything suddenly jumped out of one of the desks. They walked around for a while and, when they were satisfied nothing was going to eat them, began exploring in earnest. There was nothing helpful written down on any of the platforms; not so much as a plaque reading 'Made In Taiwan'. Occasionally one of them had a strange symbol on it, but to them it was even less helpful than being in ancient Greek.

"This will be useful." Bailey commented when she came across a beveled platform. It was a different from the others. It was round and it curved down in the middle like a bowl a few feet deep. Whatever purpose it once served was an utter mystery but it had done a good job of holding condensed water. It was holding thirty liters at least, and it wasn't the only platform like it.

There were several other doors that led in, but all of them seemed as high as the one they came through first, definitely out of reach of Akela. Zack ran around the perimeter checking all the entrances for inaccessibility while he radioed Maya and Cody.

"Cody, it's Zack. We got inside the building."

"_ch_...it's a building? You're inside it?..._ch_" came the reply.

"Yeah, no idea who made it though, and no one's been here in ages."

"_ch_...Can it serve as a bivouac?..._ch_"

"A what?"

"_ch_...Place where we can hold up without being eaten..._ch_" Cody supplied.

"Yeah, all the entrances are too high for Akela to reach, and there's water in here. It's a perfect bivouac."

"_ch_...Akela is bum-scootching across the sand, over..._ch_" London reported.

"_ch_...Thank you London. Zack found a place for us to be safe. Everyone head to the Bivouac..._ch_"

"_ch_...What's a bivouac?..._ch_"

* * *

><p>London's boat docked in the sand next to Zack's. Cody's boat joined them a few minutes later. The castaways pulled all three boats all the way into the tree line so they wouldn't be carried away in the night. They then proceeded to take everything out of the three life boats and cart them into the jungle to the Bivouac. Cody and Maia had left the beacon that came with their life-boat at the peak where it had optimum broadcasting power. The other two beacons would stay on the shore. They wouldn't switch those two on yet.<p>

They were following the path of destruction Bailey had left behind after the forest had dared to get into her way. They followed the path for another ten minutes before the fatigue stared to slow them down.

"These supplies are so heavy." whined London.

"You aren't carrying anything!" Maya growled from under her pack.

"Can we break?" asked London.

"Can I break you?" asked Maya, Cody wasn't sure if she was serious or joking.

Zack came running up to them from the interior.

"Cody! Are you actually getting exercise?" he joked. Cody just glared at his twin as Zack took some of the supplies from Maya to lighten her load.

"Come on kids, we're nearly there." he said, and he led them forward.

When they finally made it to the Bivouac Zack climbed up the tree first and everyone threw their packs to him. London scurried up the tree next. The diamond dust she had been using to manicure her fingernails made them perfect climbing spikes. Cody helped Maya get a good purchase on the trunk before he went up. Zack watched closely making sure Cody's hands didn't linger helpfully for too long. When everyone finally got onto the balcony, Zack heard a dull thud from the ground. He looked over and saw Pepé at the base of the tree.

"Sorry, Pepé." Zack called down, the wheelchair ramp is out. You just have to stay down there tonight." Pepé fell down on his back and stared up at them balefully.

They all walked into the Bivouac. Cody and Maya gaped for a while before emptying their packs. They all explored the building until the light started to fail as the sun set. They didn't find much except for a staircase leading down to a dead end that might have been a door.

They all passed around the ration packets and what was left of the water. When the sun finally set, they emptied their sacks and rolled them up as pillows and spread out on the Dais in the center.

"Well, we had an eventful day." said Zack.

"We're sleeping in an ancient ruin on a deserted island..." said Cody.

"Hiding from a wolf..." said Bailey.

"That we named Akela..." said London.

"While the sarcophagus has to sleep outside." Maya finished. "This isn't weird at all."


	8. Every Day's a Little Death

**Chapter 8: Every Day's a Little Death**

"_The things you really have to _worry_ about probably never even crossed your mind."_

* * *

><p>"'The Castaways of Sargasso Island: including London Tipton, heiress to the Tipton fortune, Maya Bennett, student and future Nobel laureate for literature, Bailey Pickett, student and future Harvard Chair of Omniscience, Zack Martin, Destroyer of Worlds, Cody Martin, the first DoctorLawyer in space, and Pharaoh Neferkare Pepi II of the Egyptian Empire

_Observe_ that the life-boats of the S.S. Tipton were stocked exclusively with obscure, poorly seasoned, freeze-dried food,

_Observe_ that Tipton industries is a multi-national, multi-billion, multi-multi corporation with entrée to various resources, including catering advisers,

_Observe_ that despite copious means and opportunities to stock he S.S. Tipton life-boats with palatable food they have left us with this indigestible nastiness,

_Deplore _the flavor and quality of rations provided to the castaways of the S.S. Tipton,

_Condemn_ the ration choices made by the administrators of the S.S. Tipton and subsequent dietary horrors that have been visited on the ones who depend on the rations for sustenance,

_Resolve_ that upon our rescue from the island the imbeciles that stuck us with Gefilte Fish Jerky will be located,

_Resolve_ that the punishment we will dispense will be as terrible as physically possible,

_Resolve_ that there won't be enough of their corpses left to stuff into a pickle jar when we're done, and

_Resolve_ to remain actively seized of the matter.'

Are we all agreed?" Cody asked, looking up from the edict he was reading.

The gang all nodded.

"Alright, there's something to look forward to." Cody said as he put away his notebook.

They had woken up hungry that morning and had all unanimously agreed that the Kosher rations were about as appetizing as open-mouth kissing Akela.

"We're on a tropical island." Zack groaned. "Shouldn't there be a tree growing fruit cocktails? Or a bush growing cheerleaders? Or a fountain of video games?"

"Is he alright?" asked Maya.

"Soda withdrawal coupled with low blood sugar. The added stress isn't helping either." answered Cody. Like most people, Zack would disconnect with reality if reality became unpleasant.

"He's right, though...kind of." said Bailey. "There's gotta be something growing on this island that hasn't been dried and salted."

"That may well be true,"replied Cody, "but the minute we set foot outside we're going to be dinner with a side of terror for Akela."

"And that's all well and good," replied Zack, "but if we have to starve to death in here, I'll cook and eat you in between then and now."

"That may well be the case," replied Cody, "but before you even manage to get the fire lighted, I'll throw myself to Akela just to spite you."

"And that's indeed the way it will be," replied Zack, "but I'm quite happy to finish up anything he doesn't want."

"That is right and sound," replied Cody, "but when you get rescued you will be severely punished for your crimes."

"You're allowed to eat people when you're stranded. Remember mom's cousin, Doug? He ate people to survive after his airplane crashed." Zack reminded him.

"Yes, he did do that." Cody conceded. "As I recall, he was on a flight headed to Houston from Nashville, and you could see the IHOP from the crash sight."

"Yeah, Doug had problems." said Zack.

"Meanwhile, back on Earth." Maya cut in. "We just need to distract Akela while someone else explores the island."

"I like that idea." said London.

* * *

><p>"I hate this idea." said London.<p>

They had stuffed her up one of the trees near the Bivouac while Zack and Maya had snuck out one of the exits on the opposite side. Akela was circling her tree in hungry fervor.

"They better bring back a brisket. Do you have any tens?" she asked.

HERE YOU GO. DO YOU HAVE ANY ACES?

"Nope. Go fish."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the north shore of the island, Zack and Maya were paddling the islands perimeter. Once Akela had been distracted, they had gone to the boats and started surveying the island from the safety of the water. There was always a danger that Akela could come looking for them and Cody had assured them that there weren't any sharks in the Sargasso Sea.<p>

Starting from the Bay they had rowed clockwise around the island. Zack paddled the dinghy while Maya kept her binoculars trained on the jungle to see if she could spy anything fresh and fruity. So far, they had gone around the Peak and were heading to the East side of the island where there was a second hill, wider than the Peak, but shorter.

"I can't see anything edible." griped Maya. "Akela must have been eating something all this time, and that something must have been eating something, so where's something we can eat!"

"Maybe Akela just washed up on the island the same day we did." Zack suggested.

"Then we'll eat him." Maya quipped.

They continued on in silence for a while. They were almost on the East side of the island when Zack decided to break the silence.

"So...you came with Cody to save me?" he asked tentatively.

"Yep." she answered curtly, not taking her eyes from the forest.

"Why?" Zack asked.

"He said if we got to you first we could beat the stupid out of you." she responded.

"There must have been more to it than that." he said hopefully.

"It was all the motivation I needed." she replied.

"Look, Maya." his voice took on a pleading, vulnerable tone. Maya, who didn't even know Zack could sound like that, turned to him out of shock. "I know this isn't the best time, since I've gotten you into this mess and all, but there's something I want to tell you..."

"What is that?" she asked.

"Maya, I lo..." he started.

"No, what is _that_?"she asked pointing to the coast behind Zack. He turned around to see a structure moving into view from behind the hill.

It had the same bronze hue as the Bivouac, but it was much taller and it's sides were angular, like a pyramid. Every few meters up the side there would be a ledge where plants were growing. Curiosity temporarily overpowered their hunger and they made the way towards the structure.

The structure right on the tree line between the beach and the forest, so they didn't have to walk far once they hit land. Upon closer examination the ledges they had seen earlier were deeper than they thought and the plants they had seen earlier were towering trees.

Maya was struck by the resemblance to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It reminded her of the Stonehenge structure on the peak: someone had picked an iconic building and refashioned it in a modern redux. The first tier of the structure was five meters from the ground, and there was no obvious way to get up to the ledge.

"I'm willing to bet what I own and can borrow that the only fruit trees on the island are growing up there, out of reach." Zack said forlornly.

"Probably." agreed Maya. Then a rope ladder dropped down in front of them.

* * *

><p>Cody and Bailey had remained at the Bivouac trying to think up ways to signal for help. As part of the creative process they were standing on one of the balconies throwing rocks out at the forest. Hitting a tree trunk was worth 5 points and getting one in a bromeliad was worth 20.<p>

"We could polish the dome of the Bivouac and the reflected sunlight could attract a plane." Cody suggested, missing a ficus tree.

"I don't think we have enough Windex." said Bailey "We could splice the radios together to make a long-range transmitter." she sunk a pebble into a racinaea.

"We don't have any tools. We could make a signal fire on the Peak." Cody offered, hitting a lignum vitae.

"We might burn down the rest of the island. We could harness the power of London's stupidity and levitate the island into New York harbor." Bailey proposed, knocking an eduandrea off its branch.

"I don't want to risk getting any on me." said Cody, chuckling gently. "I've missed this."

"Being stranded on an island?" asked Bailey.

"Bouncing ideas off you." he clarified. "Spending time with you." There was silence for a while.

"Me too." she admitted eventually. He reached back and put a hand on her shoulder. In the distance they heard London shout something about 'fish'.

* * *

><p>Zack and Maya walked around the first tier of the Pyramid. Zack's bet had been a sure winner, the trees in the garden where all bearing fruit. Zack and Maya were stuffing whatever looked ripe into their back-packs.<p>

They both stood next to a grapefruit tree. They were having difficulty reaching higher orbs. A hairy, orange arm lowered from the branches and handed him a fruit. Zack took it with a nod of thanks and put it in his overstuffed bag.

Zack turned and whispered to Maya: "You see the Orangutans, too, right?"

"Yep." she answered. The family of orangutans gazed down at them thoughtfully from the tree tops.


	9. The Death of Romance

**Chapter 9: The Death of Romance**

"_We attempted to understand emotions using what we knew about math. After trying to assign formulas to Love we realized we didn't know _enough_ about math for this."_

* * *

><p>"We have food!" yelled Zack as he ran into the Bivouac.<p>

"It's not kosher!" yelled Maya as she ran in behind him. They got London down from her tree and commenced the feast.

The fruit was laid out on one of the desks and Zack and Bailey got to work dicing it up with the folding knives from the emergency supplies. The two had a competition for most creative fruit carving work. It was voted 3 to 2, Bailey's platypus winning over Zack's bunny (which he claimed was a bear).

They were all getting, more or less, drunk on fructose, intoxicated off the happiness that comes with not starving to death, and inebriated with the relief from the absence of jerky. Maya, Bailey, and Cody all sang a chorus of 'Retainer Baby' while Zack did a speed waltz with London.

Later on, they were all lying on the Dais and gazing at the night sky. It had been a productive day, spirits were high, and they were ready for a blissful slumber.

Cody looked over to the desk with the fruit remnants on it. There were grapefruit, ackee, papaya, bananas, starfruit, and pomegranates among others.

"Pop Quiz!" he called out. "What do all those fruits have in common?"

"You're a geek?" supplied Zack.

"They're better than Jerky." guessed London.

"I'm gonna go with your a geek, too." said Maya.

"Nothing." answered Bailey. From outside they heard a _ca-thunk_.

"All correct." said Cody. "Especially Bailey. Those fruits aren't in the same plant family. Most of them aren't even found in the same part of the world."

"So, whoever built this place must have imported them." said Maya.

"A long time ago, if the overgrowth we saw is anything to go by." Zack supplied. They were left to ponder that for a while.

"Cody and I decided," said Bailey breaking the silence. "Making a signal fire on the Peak has the fewest drawbacks."

"You and I can go up to the Peak tomorrow and make a pyre." Zack said to Bailey.

"I can help, too" offered Cody.

"Last time we had to make a fire outdoors was in Grizzly Scouts. You insisted that all the branches had to be equal length, arranged in a double helix, sorted by thickness." said Zack "I don't think we have time for that."

"I can distract Akela." said London.

"Seriously?" asked Bailey.

"It wasn't so bad. I can play Gin Rummy tomorrow." said London.

"With whom?" asked Bailey.

"This guy came by." she said. "Wears a lot of black, really skinny, TALKS LIKE THIS..."

* * *

><p>For the first time, Zack and Bailey looked out across the island from the Peak. It was a beautiful sight, though the lack of any planes or ships coming to their rescue was something of a downer.<p>

"This Stonehenge thing is made of the same metal as the Bivouac..." said Bailey.

"And the Pyramid." Zack filled in.

"So if we start a signal fire up here it won't spread to the jungle." Bailey finished.

"Let's get to work gathering brush." said Zack. "At least we have a nice day for it." There was a light overcast of clouds, so the sun wasn't beating down on the metal peak or turning the jungle into a sauna.

"Yeah, this could be fun." said Bailey, rolling up her sleeve.

* * *

><p>"Well, this is fun." said Maya sarcastically. Cody and Maya were left with nothing to do while Zack and Bailey made a fire and London distracted Akela. They had been amusing themselves by cleaning up last nights feast, and walking balcony. They had also tried to open the door in the back, but were unsuccessful.<p>

"This is preposterous!" Maya shouted at last. "We are on a mysterious tropical island with ruins and jungles and everything! It's flippin' Disney Land!" she ran to the desk where the emergency supplies were taken and started packing a knap-sack.

"What are you doing?" asked Cody apprehensively.

"I'm going exploring!" she declared.

This wasn't the best idea. On the other hand, Cody was bored out of his gourd. He stared packing his own sack.

They went down to the bay to grab one of the dinghies. From there, they rowed across the bay and around the East side of the island. They approached the Garden Pyramid from the south circling the larger hill. They beached the boat and were at the foot of the Pyramid.

"I can see what you mean." said Cody. "The design does reflect the Hanging Gardens of Babylon."

"I always regretted not being able to see it." said Maya.

"You were so close. You only missed it by about eighteen-hundred years." joked Cody.

"Yeah, I need to be more punctual." chuckled Maya.

"I want to get a better view of it. Do you feel like going up that hill?" he asked.

"Can you make that?" Maya asked skeptically.

"The beauty of the landscape will give me the will to carry on." Cody said as he headed toward the incline.

An hour later the landscape was a lot less beautiful. Cody and Maya were panting and sweating in cascades. They finally made it to the crest of the ridge and looked down at the edifice.

"There you go. Was it worth it?" Maya asked.

"Oh, yes." said Cody enraptured by the construction. The Pyramid had four tiers. All the tiers were octagonal, not the square base of a regular pyramid. The highest tier didn't have any plants growing on it, just a door leading inside. The levels all had staircases going between them, but there was not stairway that lead to the ground outside. The Orangutan family had led a blissfully wolf-free existence in there.

"What's on the other side, I wonder?" Maya pondered, looking behind them to the crest of the hill.

"That's the good side of the hill." answered Cody.

"What?" asked Maya.

"The good side. That side goes downhill." said Cody.

"This side goes downhill now, too, ya know." said Maya.

"I haven't forgiven it for the uphill portion yet." said Cody. "Let's go check out the good side." They turned and went to the crest. They started going downhill on the other side and the trees suddenly ended. They could see a valley below them. The hill completely enclosed the valley. It was like a colossal bunt cake. The trees didn't grow beyond the peaks of the hill, from the crest down only grasses were growing in the valley. The strangest feature of the valley was the dark circles that were spiraling out from the center.

"What are those things?" Maya asked.

"Let's get closer and find out." said Cody. The approached the first circle and found a large pit. It was as if someone had buried a metal vat and left the top open. Some soil and detritus had accumulated in the bottom. Some of the other pits were the same story. Some of them were covered with huge metal seals. They were dome shaped with some kind of hieroglyphs along the rim. The vats and covers were the same brownish metal as the Pyramid, Bivouac, and Peak.

"These symbols look like the ones on the Stonehenge and in the Bivouac." Maya said as she fingered the symbols at the rim of one of the covers.

"They are both incomprehensible to me." said Cody as he copied down the hieroglyphs in his notebook.

* * *

><p>Zack carried an armload of wood up towards the Stonehenge. He was sweating buckets, and the saltwater was burning the cuts he had gotten running through the underbrush all day. His fingers had blisters. He had passed being dead on his feet an hour ago. He was becoming clumsy with fatigue.<p>

WATCH OUT FOR THAT ROOT.

"Thanks." he said.

He came out of the forest, into the Stonehenge. There was a huge pile of firewood in the center of the disc. Bailey was lying down on the perimeter of the disc, gleaming with sweat. She was breathing heavily with her eyes closed, too exhausted to sleep.

With one final heave, Zack deposited the bundle on the pyre.

"That's _it_!" he yelled at the pyre. "That is as big as it is possible for it to be."

"Is it over?" Bailey asked as she stumbled over to Zack's side.

"Yes." he said as he grabbed her hand. "They pyre is finished." Their faces broke into victorious grins. "The fire will be seen for miles around. Someone will see us! Someone will come!"

Then they heard the rumble of thunder. Their faces collectively morphed into terrifying scowls so threatening that the sky seriously reconsidered letting it rain today.

* * *

><p>"Zack and Bailey aren't going to be happy about this." said Maya. It had been raining for some time now. She guessed that the pyre they were making had probably gotten soaked. By the time they had made it out of the valley of the divots and back down the hillside the sun had set. They were making their way across the bay and it had been dark for an hour already. The occasional lance of lightning illuminated the island and kept them from getting lost.<p>

"They probably wouldn't be too happy no matter what," said Cody, "with having to gather fire wood all day while we went exploring. I feel really bad...for..." he trailed off.

The ocean was glowing. Light was coming up from below their boat and all around them the waves were shining. They glanced over the side of the boat to see what was happening below the surface. There were fish; hundreds of them. They were small as minnows and some as big as sunfish. There were round ones and long, slender ones, and shapes they couldn't even describe. There were many different colors: oranges, pinks, yellows, red, emerald, fuchsia, and colors that hadn't been named yet. They were all glowing. Their bodies were doted with tiny points of light, like angler fish, that all together made the bay so bright you could see clear to the bottom, twenty meters below.

There, they saw a city. It must have been a city, there were buildings, roads, monoliths; all sunken beneath the waves; invisible any other time of day. The smaller structures all circled around a large dome in the center; a dark, mysterious shape.

The light became brighter and reflected off the raindrops. It looked like it was raining diamonds. If Mayas cheeks weren't already wet, Cody would notice she was actually crying at how beautiful the scene was.

They turned to each other, smiling brightly from the joy that such beauty brings. They stared into each others faces for a while.

The romance was so thick in the air it was positively invasive. You couldn't really blame them for what happened next.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, they were paddling toward the shore, determinedly not making eye contact.<p>

* * *

><p>Zack was slumbering gently in the Bivouac. The trip down from the Peak had been hell. They had spent an hour scrambling to put some of the wood in a sheltered area before realizing there was no such animal. The actual climbing down part had been a satanic slip and slide. He and Bailey had made it to the bivouac to find that Cody and Maya were coming in the same time. If he had more energy he would have wondered where they'd been. As it was. Both he and Bailey had passed out dead away before even managing to climb up to the balcony.<p>

Cody and Maya had coaxed them into hanging onto their backs wile they climbed up one of the near-growing trees. From there, they had carried them inside and found desks for them to lie down on. They couldn't sleep on the Dais tonight with the rain coming in through the whole in the roof. They tried to make them comfortable. Maya had Bailey's head resting on her lap and was trying to dry her hair with one of the extra shirts. Cody had managed to change Zack out of his wet clothes and rested his twin's head on his stomach. When they were little Zack always got a kick out of hearing Cody's tummy gurgle.

"These poor guys worked so hard." said Maya, feeling the sores on Bailey's hands. "We were out having fun and...doing stuff...not that it wasn't fun..." she trailed off.

Cody coughed uncomfortably, probably because of the combination of the weight he had on his stomach and the weight he had on his chest. "Tomorrow we'll all go out there." he said. "We'll all rebuild the pyre together."

Suddenly, Maya looked around, frantic. "Where's London?"


	10. I Dream of Death

**Chapter 10: I Dream of Death  
><strong>

"_Every crisis you face is an opportunity cleverly disguised."_

* * *

><p>The gang all stood around the Stonehenge looking hopelessly at the sopping wet pyre. The Devil himself, backed by the full faith and credit of Hell, couldn't make it catch on fire.<p>

"We're going to be here forever, aren't we?" said London. Akela had tucked himself under a bush at the first sign of thunder and was refusing to come out. There was no need to distract him with bait in a tree.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Maya.

"We solve the problem step by logical step." said Cody.

"The wood is wetter than a mermaid's bathing suit." said Zack dryly.

"So, we dry it out." said Cody.

"With what?" asked Zack.

"Sunlight, the only thing we have." answered Bailey.

"The Sun won't be able to penetrate the pile." said Zack.

"Then we spread out the wet wood on the disc and the Sun will dry it out better." said Cody. "It's not a five person job, Zack and I can get it."

"London, Bailey, and I can make a food run to the Pyramid." said Maya. The girls headed off down the hill and Cody started pulling wood off the main pile.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, Cody wasn't making much progress. He had strewn a quarter of the wood from the main pile around the Stonehenge. Cody was trying to do the bulk of the work, since Zack was still sore from the previous day. The Sun was doing it's job of drying out the wood. Unfortunately, it was also drying out the twins.<p>

"Cody, you have muscles. When did this happen?" Zack joked. He didn't remember Cody lifting this much, ever.

"I got them just before they started burning." answered Cody. He deposited another armful on an empty space in the disc.

"You know," said Zack leaning against one of the pillars, "It's a shame we can't enjoy this island more. Set up a tent on the beach, live off the land, swim in the bay. If I wasn't worried about surviving I could be spending some quality time with Maya."

Cody dropped the wood he was holding. He bent down quickly to pick up the sticks.

"You might even be able to get back in Bailey's good graces." Zack said slyly.

Cody mumbled something and hurried off to the other side of the disc.

"What's up with him?" wondered Zack, picking up another branch.

* * *

><p>"They're so cute!" Bailey and London crooned together. They were watching three of the baby orangutans swinging through a fig tree in the Pyramid.<p>

"Frankly, I don't trust anything that cute." said Maya, watching them suspiciously. Having a face like that; it wasn't even fair.

They had gone directly to the Pyramid from the Peak. After they found the rope ladder they had explored the first tier thoroughly. Eventually, they found a staircase leading up to the next level. The next level was much the same but a different variety of trees.

"You know," said London, "it's a shame we aren't here under better circumstances. It really is a beautiful island. We have food, Sun, beaches, boys..."

"You like Zack and Cody?" asked a shocked Bailey.

"No, they can just carry my stuff." said London

"It would be nice to reconnect with Cody on an island paradise." Bailey admitted, blushing. Maya hurried ahead, suddenly very interested in something farther down the path.

"Wait!" said Bailey, hurrying to keep up. "Zack's probably going to turn on the charm while we're here." she said to Maya when they caught up. "You'd better not go off alone with him, unless, you know, you really want to."

Maya gave a laugh that was less cheerful and more...unsettling. They continued exploring the Pyramid, scaling the different levels. Finally, they reached the top. The last tier of the Pyramid had a door leading inside. There was no light coming from the interior, and nothing could be seen past the first few feet.

Bailey and Maya contemplated the darkness. As they stared into the darkness, it seemed to stare back at them. It was just daring them to step in.

"It would be irresponsible to go into a poorly lit cave." said Bailey.

"It would be diametrically opposed to everything we learned from watching horror movies." commented Maya.

London was already walking into the cave with the flashlight she had in her bag. Bailey and Maya followed her, knowing that horror movie law dictated that the dunce dies first.

"These," said Bailey looking at the walls, "are the same hieroglyphs we've been finding everywhere." The walls were indeed littered with the same symbols.

"They were on the pits in the valley, too." said Maya.

"The what where?" asked Bailey.

"Cody and I went to the bigger hill. It has a valley in it. It's full of these holes." said Maya.

"You went hiking with Cody?" asked Bailey.

"Yes. Just hiking." said Maya. "Just...AH!" she yelled as something small and furry ran by and knee height. London turned the beam of the light to reveal one of the orangutans ambling through the corridor. It turned into a doorway and disappeared.

They peaked around the door to see the orangutan perched on a waist high platform. Maya noted that it was one of the unfairly adorable babies.

Bailey grabbed the flashlight and barged up to the platform. She stared at the surface in rapt attention.

"Maya," she called rummaging for something in her back-pack, "come hold the flashlight for me, please." Maya stepped up and held the flashlight aloft so the surface of the platform was illuminated. It was a drawing of some kind a bunch of lines and symbols she couldn't make anymore sense of than the other hieroglyphs.

"What is is?" Maya asked.

"It's a schematic." answered Bailey. She was frantically writing down something in her notebook. "It's a layout of a machine or vessel or building...I think it's this island."

"The island is a machine?" asked Maya, her mind wandering back to the horror movie mythos.

"No idea." admitted Bailey. "But some of the elements on this schematic match features on the island." she bent down and picked up a few stones from the floor. "The Peak," she placed a stone by an icon on the schematic that resembled the Stonehenge. "The Bivouac," she placed another stone by an icon that looked like stadium. "and The Pyramid," she put the last stone on a pyramid icon.

"And," added Maya, picking up a stone, "The Pits." she put the stone on a section of the drawing that resembled a honeycomb.

Bailey flipped to a different page of her notebook. "This is an approximate map I've been making of the island." she showed them a sketch that had the same landmarks on it. "The map matches the schematic." When she put it down on the table for the other girls to compare the placement of the landmarks did match up geometrically.

London stared giggling. The other two turned to look at her. The horror movies were looking more accurate all the time.

"What?" asked Bailey.

"The island," said London, pointing at Bailey's drawing, "is shaped like a thingy."

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" said Maya. "London this is serious! We have to...Oh, hey, yeah, it is." and she joined in laughing.

"Focus!" said Bailey, turning to a less distracting page in the notebook. "This means that someone or multiple people built an island in the middle of nowhere without anyone knowing then disappeared without a trace. The implications are nothing short of terrifying."

"And also terrifying," she said, picking up another stone, "is what the heck _this_ is." she put the stone down on what would be the bay of the island. It was where many of the conduits of the schematic intersected. It was marked by a jewel icon.

* * *

><p>"Ow...ow...<em>ow<em>..." moaned Cody as he trudged down the hill. This wasn't the best day. He had pulled muscles he didn't even know he had. Which was quite an accomplishment considering his high grades in Anatomy. On the plus side, he felt less guilty about leaving Zack do all the work yesterday. He still felt guilty about...other things. He was being dragged along by his twin.

"I'm proud of you Cody." said Zack. "I've never seen anyone unbuild a fire so fast. The wood will spend the rest of the afternoon drying out and we can light up the pyre tomorrow."

"Ow..." Cody said happily.

_ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk_

"Hey, it's Pepé." said Zack. Pepé was hopping out of the down at the base of the hill. Zack followed behind him with Cody in tow. They came up to a cave. It wasn't a natural whole in the ground. It was a huge round portal. The perimeter of the entrance had a metal frame. It was marked with dozens of hieroglyphs. The passage continued into the hill where it was enshrouded in total darkness. Pepé hopped right into the cave and disappeared into the abyss.

As Zack walked away he could still hear the echoing _ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk_ coming from the world beneath.

* * *

><p>"What is it?" asked London. They had all left the Pyramid and walked in the direction of the larger hill.<p>

"All I can tell you," said Bailey, "is that it's a really big hole." there was a cave going into the hill. It was a large and perfectly round, with a metal frame.

* * *

><p>"So, the island..." said Zack.<p>

"Was constructed." finished Bailey. They were all back at the Bivouac. The girls had filled the Twins in on their discovery.

"And it was constructed by..."said Zack.

"No idea." said Bailey.

"And it was built for..." said Zack.

"Don't know." said Bailey.

"And they all went..." said Zack.

"Not a clue." said Bailey.

"And the language they were using..." said Zack.

"Is completely unfamiliar." said Bailey.

"So, we know..." said Zack.

"Nothing." finished Bailey. She laid out her notebook on the desk showing her copy of the schematic. "Some of these look like passageways. There might be a cave system under the island."

"These symbols match the ones we've been finding everywhere else." said Cody, indicating the glyphs he had copied down in his notebook.

"Do you two _always_ carry stationary around?" asked Zack.

"Yes." Cody and Bailey answered simultaneously.

"But with the tools we have, none, we can't tell anything else about what the island is and, unless they also made their own Rosetta Stone somewhere, we can't translate the hieroglyphs." said Bailey.

"Well, that doesn't matter." said Cody. "Unless the previous islanders were writing 'A Hundred Ways to Escape a Deserted Island' the history of this island doesn't affect how we're going to get home."

"You aren't interested?" asked Bailey, incredulously. "This is a major archaeological find. It's an island, a city, and a people no one ever knew about."

"I would see to my brother's safety first." said Cody angrily. "all of our safety." he added. "We don't have enough resources do divide them between two initiatives." he paused. "We barely have enough resources for one initiative. With the food and water we have we can survive on the island indefinitely, but the minute one of us gets so much as a bad cut we could contract Tetanus or Staphylococcus infection, and all we'd be able to do is hold them while they die."

The anguish on Cody's face as he said this disintegrated Bailey's anger. He was genuinely concerned about their survival, and she was just curious about an old building. An incalculably valuable old building, but that was neither here nor there. You definitely can't take that with you.

Maya was fixated on Zack's expression during Cody's outburst. It was a mix of tender affection with undertones of serious guilt. She decided to cut in before they went from Horror movie territory to the unmentionable horror of Family Drama.

"Whatever we decide to do," she stared, "we can't do it tonight. The wood at the Peak has will be dry by tomorrow. We can all go up there, make a pyre, light it up, and then will think about what we want to do next."

They all went to their spaces on the Dais and turned in for the night. Maya was still going through the days events in her mind. It was so much to take in: Ancient Ruins, the lingering threat of Tetanus, that...one thing in the bay that night. As she finally drifted off to sleep she noticed that's Zack's usual snores were absent.


	11. Death at its Crisis

**Chapter 11: Death at its Crisis**

"_She stood alone facing a legion. She picked up a rock at her feet and charged them. It wasn't very fair...for them."_

* * *

><p>The cool early morning of the island found the group of castaways making their way to the Peak. There was a breeze blowing, kicking up the occasional palm branch. On the Eastern horizon you could make out storm clouds on the horizon.<p>

They were walking along the beach, saving penetrating the jungle until they were closer to the Peak. Zack was walking farther ahead of the rest, trying to gain some solitude. Maya caught up to him eventually.

"Zack," she said comfortingly, "if something's bothering you, you should tell someone before it drives you crazy and you kill us." the delivery was the only comforting thing about the statement.

"It's my fault we're all here." Zack said curtly.

"Actually, Bailey and Pepé were here because of London." said Maya.

"My brother and you are in serious danger because of me." he said. "I wanted to run away so he could be safe."

"Then it wasn't your fault." she said. "You should have thought it through a little better. But even if you had, I don't think you could have foreseen this coming. And if we get out of this Cody and Bailey will have that fun archaeological thing. Because of your stupidity we can add the missing pages to human history."

Zack wasn't comforted by this and started walking faster.

"Look," said Maya, "You were stressed, you kept having near death experiences, you were seeing a skinny dude in a black shroud..."

IT'S REALLY MORE OBSIDIAN THAN STRAIGHT BLACK.

"Whatever. My point is: no one blames you for this. And if Cody was the one to jump ship you would have swum after him to make sure he was OK." she finished.

"She's right." said Cody, who had come up behind him. "You would have swum an ocean made of equal parts sharks and broken glass."

That was all it take to break through the bravado. Zack grabbed Cody in a hug. Cody hugged him back. Zack broke down from there and stared weeping openly. Bailey embraced both twins. Maya hugged them from the other side. Finally, London joined in on the group hug. Death tousled Zack's hair.

Of course, all things must end. "London," said Zack.

"Yeah," she said.

"You're here." said Zack.

"Yeah," she said.

"Everyone's here." said Zack.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Yep."

YES.

"Who's distracting Akela?" Zack asked. He was answered by the sound of something running through the sand towards them. They all looked up to see Akela tearing down the beach.

"Everyone run into the forest and climb up something!" Zack called and they all disappeared into the trees.

They all tore through the forest, looking for any trees that were promising. The sound of Akela crashing through the undergrowth was growing closer by the second. They reached a grove of promising trees and hauled themselves up the branches. By the time Akela broke into the grove, they were all safe: Cody and Zack in one tree, Bailey with Maya, London on her own.

"What the Hell do we do now?" yelled Maya.

"I'm thinking!" Cody yelled back.

"You better think faster!" London yelled, looking at the sky. They hadn't noticed during the chase, but the wind had picked up. The breeze that had tossed around leaves earlier was making the trees sway like limbo dancers. Huge thunderheads rolled across the sky like flowing mountains. The trees they were safe in were trying to shake them off.

The Bailey and Maya were worse off than the others. The tree they were in had been leaning to begin with, in the gale it was gradually getting lower. Every time the wind shook the tree, more of the roots pulled up and more of the branches came down. The girls were quickly sinking to tooth-level.

Akela seemed keenly aware of this and was waiting below the tree, tail-wagging. The girls were also keenly aware of this and were loosing it. Bailey was hyperventilating and Maya was crying.

Cody looked down at Akela, and he saw Death, waiting. He remembered the day they came to the island and Death told him he could give himself up and save the girl he loved. Now, the opportunity presented itself again.

"Zack," Cody said quietly.

"What?" Zack said, focused on the girls' plight.

"I love you." said Cody.

It took less than half a second for the implications to sink in and Zack's eyes widened in horror. He turned to his twin quickly to try and grab him. He was to late Cody was already on the way down by way of gravity. Cody hit the ground and fell on his side. He lurched to his feet and faced Akela, who hadn't noticed him yet.

"Oi!" Cody screamed. Akela's ears perked and he turned his head to face Cody. "C'mon you mutt! I'm on the menu!" As Death watched, he pondered that Akela would probably choke to death on Cody's massive balls.

The bait was too good for Akela to resist and he made a dash for Cody. Cody ran into the forest like a bat out of Hell, and Akela followed him like a Hell that found one of its bats was missing. Zack reacted immediately. He jumped out of his tree, landed rather more gracefully than his twin, and followed Akela. Bailey and Maya jumped out of their swiftly sinking tree and followed suit.

"I'm just gonna stay in my tree!" called London, clinging to the trunk.

The wind picked up and the tree she was in was wholly and swiftly lifted out of the Earth and was spirited into the sky.

* * *

><p>Cody dashed through the forest. He had no clear idea where he was going or how he was going to get out of this. He didn't know anywhere safe he could run, he didn't know where the beach was from here so he could swim for it, and he didn't think he could shimmy up a tree fast enough to avoid Akela's fangs.<p>

A short way behind him, Akela couldn't believe his luck. Then, unnoticed by Cody, a tree branch fell on him, pinning him to the ground.

Cody kept running. The absence of Akela's footsteps was lost on him in his terror. He came across the cave He and Zack had encountered earlier. With no time to think, and no inclination to pause, he ran into the darkness.

* * *

><p>Bailey was running through the forest on Maya's heels. Zack was further ahead. She was temporarily impeded when she tripped over a branch.<p>

She pushed herself up and then heard a whine to her right. Akela was pegged under the branch she just tripped over. She jumped up and dashed away, but the sound of another whine stopped her.

She turned around. Akela was scrambling to unpin himself, but he couldn't get any purchase on the muddy ground.

"Ah, heck." Bailey said. She squatted down at the end of the branch and heaved it off Akela. He scuttled out of harms way. He flopped down a few feet out of harms way. Bailey fished through her bag and pulled out the last of the Gefilte Fish Jerky.

"Here," she threw it at him, "now stay out of harms way." She took off.

* * *

><p>Maya and Zack had come to the cave.<p>

"He's definitely in there." said Zack "My twin sense is tingling."

"The footprints leading inside are also a clue." said Maya.

Bailey came up behind them. "Are we going in?" she asked.

"Yep," said Zack. "Hey, where's London?"

They heard a hysterical scream behind them and turned around to see a tree flying towards them. It crashed up against the hill side. London cartwheeled out of the wreckage.

"Good, you're here." said Bailey, and handed London a flashlight. She took it, got up, and brushed herself off.

Akela trotted out of the forest and stood next to Bailey. They all turned to look at him, but he didn't do anything more than wag his tail. Zack gave a shrug and they turned on the flashlights. Then they all stepped into the darkness together.


	12. The Belly of Death

**Chapter 12: The Belly of Death**

"_The lights are going out all over Britain. They may not come back on within my life time."_

* * *

><p>"We're getting nowhere fast." said Zack as the walked through the caves.<p>

"I disagree," said Bailey. "We're getting nowhere slowly."

The cave they went into was the entrance to a tunnel. It was perfectly regular, like a colossal pipe leading to the Earth's core. There had been no branches off the passage, however with the twists the tunnel made and the impenetrable darkness, they had no idea where they were.

"Hold on," Zack said. "Everyone turn off your flashlights." They did as instructed. Darkness was absolute, but as their eyes adjusted something else revealed itself. A dull light could be seen from far away now; the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. They all ran full tilt toward it: man, woman, and wolf.

They emerged out of the tunnel to find themselves underwater. They were at the sea bottom staring up towards the surface. They looked like they were in some kind of town. It had buildings, streets, even sidewalks. Swimming above them, below the tumultuous waves, were hundreds of brightly colored, luminescent fish.

"I know where we are." said Maya "Cody and I saw this at the bottom of the Bay."

"What? When?" Zack asked.

"If we're at the bottom of the ocean," interrupted London, "What's keeping the water out of here?"

"Nothing." said Bailey pointing her flashlight at the border between air and water. The water shimmered and rippled with the currents with nothing visibly holding it back. "It's being kept out by some unseen force."

"What can do that?" asked Maya.

"Nothing humans have invented, yet." said Bailey. "This is where all the lines intersected on the schematic we saw. It had a bunch of circles around it." She looked down the street; both left and right. The road disappeared as it curved. "These streets must have been those circles. The street curves around a central structure."

"We need to find a path to the center." said Zack.

After running for a while down the path they found a street that was perpendicular to theirs. They went down to find it ended at another street that curved around the center. They again went down this one and the process repeated itself. It was the geographical equivalent of peeling an onion.

Four layers in, Bailey stopped dead at an obelisk.

"What is it?" Zack asked.

Bailey pointed at the obelisk. It had an image embossed on it of planet Earth surrounded by a laurel wreath.

"So?" asked Zack.

"That's the symbol of the United Nations. They didn't even exist until 1945."

"The UN built this place?" Maya asked.

"It was definitely built by people, here, on this planet." said Bailey.

"With all the overgrowth and ruin..." said Maya.

"It must have been built centuries ago..." said Zack.

"But the technology they would have needed..." said Bailey.

"To make giant metal buildings in the middle of nowhere..." said Maya.

"Using a language that's never been seen before..." said Zack.

"Making an invisible forcefield..." said Bailey.

"It must have been built..." said Maya.

"centuries from now." Zack finished. Utterly mystified, they persevered to the city center.

Finally, they made it to the middle. There was a huge hole in the ground, as far across as a football field and a perfect circle. The perimeter was surrounded by huge monoliths. In the hole was a giant crystal. It was a perfect sphere in shape. It dimly reflected the light above it. There was something active beneath its surface. It looked like a hundred million shadows were squirming around inside.

"Now we know why this was marked by a diamond." said Bailey as she pulled London away from the edge. London looked as if she had finally found true love.

"Look there," Zack said, pointing to the left edge of the hole. "There's some kind of bridge that goes over it."

They started walking toward it when they saw...

"Cody!" Zack screamed. Cody turned around from his spot behind one of the monoliths. The twins ran to each other and embraced.

"I ran down here when I saw the light." Cody said when they released. "When I walked into the city I followed..."

_ca-thunk ca-thunk ca-thunk_

Pepé was hopping towards the bridge when all of a sudden he diverted and tackled the nearest monolith. Then he tackled it again. And again.

"Does he want to push it over?" asked London.

"No." said Cody walking up to Pepé. As Pepé came back down Cody grabbed him and smashed his side against the monolith, then threw him down on the ground.

"Are you out of your mind?" Bailey shrieked. "The Egyptian Government is going to be inditing our dead bodies."

Cody didn't pay her any attention. He jambed his fingers into the seal of the sarcophagus and heaved. The top came off and they saw the ancient king. He looked as good as could be expected after four millenniums. The scepter he was holding looked good as new. It was a long silver rod cylindrical at the top but tapered to a point at the bottom. The only detail on it was a transparent band a few centimeters from the top. It revealed a crystal that shined so brightly that none of them could look at it directly.

Cody reached in and grabbed it. "Sorry, Pepé." he said and wrenched it out of the mummies hands. He started walking out across the bridge. They all followed him cautiously.

Cody couldn't say exactly what he was doing. The best he could figure was that the scepter was moving him forward like it had been compelling the old sarcophagus all this time. He finally came to the end. It was not actually a bridge, it stopped in the dead center of the hole over the crystal. At his feet, Cody saw that the surface of the bridge was completely smooth, without even the smallest hint of texture, except for one small dent where the pointy end of the scepter would fit.

The scepter was resonating gently in his grasp. It seemed almost excited, as if it had been waiting and hoping for this day. Cody clasped it in both of his hands and stabbed it down into the dent.

The crystal beneath him exploded with light. What was twisting shadow a moment before was now white fire and lighting inside it. The light it emitted was so bright that shutting your eyes made it no darker. Images started bursting forth out of the monoliths by the thousands. They were like countless TV screens floating independently of monitors. They all circled around the children on the bridge. They clutched each other for safety. Cody was still gripping the scepter firmly. Zack got closer to Cody to find that his twin was crying blood.

"I know what this island is!" Cody screamed.

* * *

><p>On the North side of the island in the Pyramid, The schematic room lit up and the glyphs stared moving around the walls. Outside, a forcefield blossomed to life above the fruit trees.<p>

* * *

><p>Further south, the pits in the valley were still capped off glowed dully and became transparent hundreds of different animals could be seen frozen in time inside the giant canisters.<p>

* * *

><p>In the islands' interior, the desks in the Bivouac had screens and consoles appear on them. The door at the back opened to reveal another portal to the world beneath.<p>

* * *

><p>On the Peak, the meridians carved into the Stonehenge glowed a bright white. Beams of energy emanated from the pillars and shot out into space.<p>

* * *

><p>On the beach, the waves were racing away from the island. The island was floating, pulling itself out of the sea.<p>

* * *

><p>Zack was desperately trying to pry his twin's fingers off the scepter.<p>

"We built this, our species did, in the future!" yelled Cody, his wide eyes crying blood, staring straight ahead.

"Good for us! Let go!" yelled Zack.

"Our planet was dead! We made so many mistakes!" yelled Cody, staring intently at something only he could see that the crystal was showing him.

"Was holding on to a killer scepter one of them?" yelled Zack.

"We were determined to survive! We finally had the technology to rebuild our planet!" yelled Cody.

"Cool story bro! Now unclench!" yelled Zack.

"They sent back this ship and others like it to collect samples. Something went wrong, this ship didn't make it back." yelled Cody.

"When did your grip get this strong?" Zack raged. Except for Cody they were all hunkering down on the bridge trying to steady themselves. They were feeling a sensation similar to being spun around very fast, then falling out of an airplane, then being handed a math exam on the way down.

"The trees at the Pyramid, the animals we saw, they were the seeds of new ecosystems in the future!" yelled Cody.

"Whoop-de-frickin'-do!" yelled Zack. "Let go of the damn-!"

And then there was only light: pure, pervasive, perfect white.


	13. Life Goes On

**Chapter 13: Life Goes On**

"_Some times destruction is a _good_ thing. Something old is gone and something new can take its place."_

* * *

><p>The room was absurdly white. Every detail of the room was obliterated in the all consuming blankness of it. The fact that you were standing in it was the only clear evidence that there was even a floor. The fact that you couldn't see the sky was the only indication there was a ceiling. The walls were unaccounted for, though, theoretically, something must have been holding up the ceiling.<p>

The absence of detail prevented an estimate of the room's size. You got the impression the room was big only because of the amount of stuff in it. There were hundreds of items, samples was what they were. They were all floating, suspended in the air by some invisible force. They were all lined up in a grid pattern stretching in each direction as far as the eye could see. Each sample had it's own bubble of personal space a goodly distance from its neighbor. There were samples as small as a minnow and then some samples were whole whales.

Moving down one of the rows were two people, both in white lab coats. One of them had gone wild and sewn on black cuffs to his coat.

"This ship was damaged during the mission." said No-Cuffs consulting a hand-held. "The crew didn't survive. The ship stayed in the time stream for nearly five thousand years."

"It's a good thing it time-traveled to a set point." said Cuffs. "It'd be a huge set back to have to wait for its return."

"In spite of contamination and other disasters," said No-Cuffs, "Most of the samples are still viable."

"Fantastic." said Cuffs. "We can begin the process."

"There's one more thing." said No-Cuffs. "We picked up something...unintentional."

They had come up to the only four slots on the grid whose samples were wearing clothes. There were three girls in the first three slots and two boys in the fourth. The boys looked indistinguishable from each other, although one had been bleeding from his eyes before arriving. He was being held tightly by the other.

"We couldn't pull them apart." mused Cuffs.

"I'll scan their cortex and get their basic information." said No-Cuffs, typing something into his hand-held. The results popped up. "Oh, my."

"What?" asked Cuffs.

"It's Zack and Cody Martin." said No-Cuffs, winded.

"No way! _The_ Zack Martin and _The_ Cody Martin?" Cuffs asked.

"The _The_ Themselves." No-Cuffs answered. They both stood in awe of the two battered children.

"They look so little." said Cuffs.

"And yet they'll save our species." said No-Cuffs.

"Every species, really." said Cuffs looking around the white room at the other samples.

"Yeah, we should probably send them back." said No-Cuffs.

"If we want life to go on, it would be a good move." agreed Cuffs. He pondered something for a minute. "What they did was amazing, but I always wonder how much more they could have done with some help. A little extra knowledge."

"It would be irresponsible," said No-Cuffs, "to tamper with history."

"It could cause a total catastrophe." conceded Cuffs.

"It could cause destructive paradoxes." added No-Cuffs.

"It could undermine all the progress we've made." said Cuffs.

"The time stream would be an irreparable mess." said No-Cuffs.

"I won't tell if you won't." said Cuffs.

"Deal." said No-Cuffs. And they each reached up and put a finger to one of the twins' foreheads.

* * *

><p>Mr. Moseby was frantic. Five of the students of Seven Seas High had been missing for the better part of the week and along with three of the life-boats. No one had been able to pick up the beacons on the life-boats and a thorough search of the ship had turned up nothing.<p>

In a few hours the S.S. Tipton would be docking in Florida and he was going to have to explain how this had happened to an unsympathetic board, angry parents, and Mr. Tipton, who was a combination of the previous two.

He looked out at the sea from the Sky Deck, seriously considering taking out one of the life-boats to the open sea when there was a flash behind him. He turned around quickly. As the light was dissipating he started to make out five figures lying on the sun-chairs by the hot tub.

It was the missing children! All five of them: Zack, Cody, Maya, Bailey, and London. Mr. Moseby whipped out his cell-phone.

"Hello, Emma." he said as he tried to rouse London. "I've found the children...They're on the sky deck...Not a clue, just send up the Med team." he shut the phone and looked them all over, they didn't look injured, they didn't even look sunburned.

"Where am I?" asked London as she was coming round. They were all coming round.

"You're on the Sky Deck of the S.S. Tipton." supplied Mr. Moseby.

"So, it was all a dream?" asked a groggy Maya.

"All I know is that you were missing for nearly a week and there are life-boats missing." said Mr. Moseby. "Explain yourselves now!"

They weren't much help as they all started talking at once: "A deserted island...a bay... the Peak... a wolf... hundreds of desks...a pyramid...growing fruit...Death...vessels in the valley...a thousand glowing fish...a tunnel underground...NEAR-ZACK EXPERIENCE... a crystal...the future...appearing in perfect white!"

"_Zzzt!_" said Mr. Moseby. "After the ship's doctors make sure you are not hurt you are all sequestered to your rooms until we dock!"

* * *

><p>After Cody had been examined he requested to be put in Zack's cabin. Mr. Moseby did not begrudge him that request. He came into Zack's room to find Zack doodling something at his desk. He didn't move as Cody walked over to Zack's bed and sat down.<p>

"What do you think happened?" asked Cody.

"You used the scepters magic powers to send us into Mr. Moseby's clutches." answered Zack.

"Sounds about right." said Cody.

"You might have used it to fill my cabin with money first." said Zack.

"Next time, I promise." said Cody. He let the silence continue for a while. Then he finally got the weight off his chest. "I kissed Maya." Zack stopped doodling. "The day you and Bailey were building the pyre."

Zack was quiet for a bit, then he went back to doodling. "I forgive you." he said.

"Really?" asked Cody.

"Sure." said Zack. "Soon I'll answer her question of '_Which Twin Is The Better Kisser?_' and she'll be devoted to me forever."

Cody laughed and walked over to his twin. He looked over Zack's shoulder at the sketch. It was a chemical compound.

"I didn't know you liked chemistry." said Cody.

"Neither did I, but I keep having these ideas..." said Zack and he added a few details.

"You need a nickel atom there to balance the orbit." said Cody indicating a part of the compound.

The rest of the evening they worked on different atomic structures. The compounds they postulated that night would go on to revolutionize energy production and ecological stability. When asked what inspired them that night they could only answer: bonding.

**The End**


End file.
